Each choice an artist makes about his/her work communicates something to you, the viewer. For you to speak and write intelligently about art, you need to understand and be able to utilize the vocabulary of art. The following terms and definitions are fundamental to your understanding a work of art. They will help you apply words to your visual experience and will make you a more credible and respected artist and historian.

Medium - the physical material or techniques that an artist uses to create their work. • What is the work made out of?

Subject Matter - the identifiable objects or ideas represented in a work. • What do you see in this work of art? In this example, a skull, shell, book, and other objects are present.

Content - what a work means; this is not always evident by looking at the work, sometimes takes research. The work's Title can also give clues to the meaning.• Is there a deeper meaning in the work, beyond what I can see? This is an example of a vanitas painting typical of the Northern Renaissance. The painting, created in 1640 by Harmen Steenwyck, is titled "Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life." This style of painting was popular in religious and austere northern Europe as it is meant to represent the fleeting nature of life and its follies.

A work of art often has an obvious meaning or interpretation but it may also have an allegorical meaning that is not immediately obvious.

Harmen Steenwyck, Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life, 1640

Iconography - "image or symbol writing" - the use of one object to represent something else. Overt Iconography is easily understood and fairly obviousHidden Iconography usually requires an understanding of the artist/time period/politics/society • Does anything stand for something else in this work? The National Gallery in London houses this painting, and describes the work:

"The books symbolize human knowledge, the musical instruments (a recorder, part of a shawm, a lute) the pleasures of the senses. The Japanese sword and the shell, both collectors' rarities, symbolize wealth. The chronometer (detail above left) and expiring lamp allude to the transience and frailty of human life. All are dominated by the skull, the symbol of death." The skull is probably an example of overt iconographyas most viewers would correlate this with death, but the other objects require some research to understand their presence in the painting.

Hue - the name of the color (red, blue, green, etc.) Color Schemes are planned groupings of hues.• The different hues here create different color schemes.

Value - the amount of light or dark. • The grayscale is a visual way to represent the entire range of values from light (white) to dark (black).

Rembrandt, Night Watch, 1642

Line - a mark made by a moving point, lines can create patterns, move the eye through a composition, and describe emotions. • Contour Lines define the outside edges of shapes, like a cartoon outline • Calligraphic Lines are made by using value (light and dark) and shading

Jean Dominique Ingres,Princesse de Broglie, 1853Enamel is a very glossy application of paint.

Vincent Van Gogh, Self-Portrait as an Artist, 1887-88Impasto is a chunky application of paint.

Actual Textureis how the artwork would feel if you could touch it; this is strongly influenced by the media used to create the work. • If I ran my hand across the canvas, how would it feel?

Implied Texture is the illusion of texture. • You can't actually touch implied texture, it is created visually.

Sculpture is an excellent example of actual texture.These photos of sculptures, however, are examples of implied texture.You can't actually feel the rough texture of the work on the left or the smooth texture of the work on the right, but your eye can sense and interpret that it would feel rough or smooth.LEFT: Rodin, Monument to Balzac, 1898RIGHT: Rodin, The Kiss, 1886

Shape - an area that stands out from the space next to or around it because of line, color, value, or texture.

Actual shapes can be seen clearly and immediately by the eye. • What "things" are different from
their surroundings? Raphael's painting contains three figures that are clearly seen as distinct from their surroundings. These figures, along with the tree in the left and the church in the far right, are actual shapes.Implied shapes are ways of arranging the elements in a composition.• What arrangement do these shapes have on the
page? Within the painting Raphael has arranged his figures in a triangular composition, a common effect used to reference the holy trinity. This creates an implied shape.

Raphael, La Belle
Jardinere, 1507

Organic Shapes have a very curvy, natural, irregular shape and feel. • There is usually no order
to organic shapes. On the left, Arne Jacobsen's Egg Model 3316 Chair, 1957-58 has a curving, fluid form characteristic of its organic shape.

Geometric Shapes are very linear, rigid, predictable, and grid-like. • These shapes are rarely found in nature.All curves and flowing shapes are absent from Edward Godwin's Chair, 1883 on the right. Instead, the artist uses a geometric layout.

Space - either the 2D or 3D aspects of the work. •
In design, space gives a 2D (flat) object the 3D illusion of depth.

Perspective - a technique used to show the illusion of depth, to
create visual space.

Gustav Caillebotte, Le Pont de l'Europe, 1876

Foreshortening - distorting an object to make it appear to recede
in space.Linear
Perspective - all lines and edges
appear to vanish at the same point in the distance.

Edward Ruscha, Standard Station, 1966

Balance - the distribution of visual weight in a work of art.

Symmetry -
when a work is even (balanced) on the left and right sides.

Arne Jacobsen, Swan Model
3320, 1957

Asymmetry - when a work is
uneven (imbalanced) on both sides.

Hokusai, The Great Wave Off Kanagawa,
1823-29

Radial Balance - when an artwork has a center point with other design elements coming
from it.

Guhyasamaja mandala

Unity - a sense of oneness, that different elements belong together. This is
created by the repetition of shapes, colors, textures, linear directions, etc.• What is the same about this piece of art?

Variety - provides interest and vitality, eliminates boredom.• What is different about this piece of art?

Andy Warhol, Che Guevara, 1962

Rene Magritte, Golconde, 1953

Scale - the relative size of an object in comparison to
other, similar objects. • Compares individual objects/figures to one another.

Parmigianino, Madonna of
the Long Neck, 1534

Proportion - the relationship in size of one part to another
part of the whole. • Compares parts within the same object/figure.

Rhythm - the repetition of similar elements that imply order or continuity.• Does this work have repeating elements?

Henri van de Velde, Tropon,
1898

Pattern
- a regular, structured repetition.• Does this work repeat in an obvious way that
doesn't change?

William Morris, Snakeshead, 1876

Movement - the visual flow of a work. This has a
psychological effect on the viewer and can enhance your message in subtle ways.
• Does this work appear to flow in any particular
direction?

Macdonald and McNair, Poster
for the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, 1895

Peter Behrens, Poster for
Deutsche Werkbund,1914

El Lissitzky,Proun 19D,
1922

Figure/Ground -
We
see a mark on a page (figure) as distinct from is background (ground) • Figure is also called Positive Space • Groundis also called Negative Space

NEAR RIGHT: Geoffroy Troy, Capital
from a Series of Initials, 1526FAR RIGHT:
Kasimir Malevich, Complex
Presentiment: Half-Figure in a Yellow Shirt, 1928-32

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.